ANALYSIS: Union Workers Haven’t Seen Raises Like This in Decades

Most collective bargaining agreements last three years or longer. So when labor and management negotiators sat down in 2022 to renew their union contracts, it was the first opportunity for many of them to set their workers’ pay rates since 2019.

What happened in between? Only a global pandemic, an economic shutdown, a precipitous recession, a series of layoffs and furloughs, a supply chain crisis, a prolonged recovery, a rise in inflation, a widespread labor shortage, a new appreciation for essential workers, a surge in strike activity, a proliferation of ...